This is the Easiest Ever Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breasts recipe – just add the chicken and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – or another neutral cooking oil like canola oil.
- Frozen chicken breasts – you’ll need boneless skinless breasts to easily shred the chicken.
- Paprika – cayenne would also be good and has a bit more kick.
- Onion powder – finely diced onion would work too.
- Garlic powder – use minced garlic or garlic paste instead.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
How to cook frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot
- Prep your ingredients.
- Add everything to the Instant Pot in order.
- Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.
- Shred the chicken and serve!
What to do with shredded chicken
Now that you have a quick and easy method of cooking frozen chicken breasts in the Instant Pot, your weekly meal prep will be even easier. Having big batches of chicken already prepared will cut down on the amount of time it takes to make any meal and there are so many things you can do with shredded chicken.
Use chicken for any of these meal ideas:
- Salads
- Sandwiches
- Pizzas
- Tacos
- Pasta bakes
- Enchiladas
- Nachos
- Soup
- Chili
Frequently Asked Questions
Frozen chicken breasts will need to cook in the Instant Pot for 20 minutes at high pressure. Keep in mind it will take the Instant Pot about 10-15 minutes to preheat, so your total cooking time is about 30 minutes.
If you find that your chicken breasts are tough after cooking, you likely didn’t cook them for long enough. Make sure you’re cooking them for the required amount of time and that you haven’t overloaded the Instant Pot. Doing a natural pressure release will also help make the chicken super moist and is a great method for shredding chicken.
You’ll need to add 4 cups of water to this recipe to ensure that the chicken breasts cook properly.
Storing and reheating
This chicken breast will last in the fridge for up to 5 days and is great for meal prep. You can cook a week’s worth of chicken for lunches and dinners, which eliminates the need to make protein every evening!
You can reheat cooked chicken breast in the microwave or oven – just be sure to sprinkle a little bit of water over top before reheating to avoid that leftover chicken taste. If you add the chicken to a soup, there’s no need to reheat it beforehand. You can also pan fry it with additional seasonings to compliment the meal you plan to serve it with, such as chili powder for tacos.
Just remember that you should only reheat cooked chicken once. After it’s been reheated, you shouldn’t refrigerate and cook it again.
Freezing this recipe
You can freeze fresh chicken breast, but I wouldn’t recommend refreezing your chicken after it’s already been frozen and cooked.
More Instant Pot chicken recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this chicken into your weekly lunches.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Get a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked through.
Easiest Ever Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cups water
- 1 lb frozen chicken breasts
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to Instant Pot in the order in which they are listed. Press the pressure cook button and select the high setting, then set to cook for 20 minutes.
- Instant Pot will take about 10-15 minutes to preheat then the 20 minutes to pressure cook.
- Let the pressure naturally release once chicken has finished cooking (should take 15-20 min), then open lid when safe to do so.
- Remove chicken from Instant Pot, discard water, then slice each breast with a fork and knife if desired. Serve and enjoy!
